Current Opportunities

This class is led by Shirley Warehime. "Understanding the New Testament" by Professor David Brakke explores the context in which the New Testament was written to help us understand the message. Please consider joining them on Wednesday or Thursday mornings at 9 am in the fireside room or by zoom! Everyone is welcome to attend. Please contact Keeley if you intend to join via Zoom.

It seems like January is a good time to hunker in and do a Bible study-type series.  So, we thought we would provide some diverse perspectives on reading the Bible, from “progressive” to creative, to Jewish, to “conservative” viewpoints.  Hope it will be good food for thought.

 January 5:  Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally with Marcus Borg.  This listening is an interview between Marcus and a Presbyterian pastor.  This is a bit of a summary of Marcus’ calling regarding what he terms, “adult Christian re-education” but also focuses on his book Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally which is in the same vein as his best-selling books, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith and The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith.  BONUS!  A few copies of these books will be at the group to take for free and share as you would like. 

January 12:  Reading the Bible Creatively with Rachel Held Evans.  This is an interview with Rachel Held Evans before her untimely death at 37.  Rachel authored a number of best-selling books, including:  Wholehearted Faith, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Inspired, and Searching for Sunday.    This interview was recorded on The Bible for Normal People, which is dedicated to bringing the “best in biblical scholarship to everyday people” and is a curious, fun, somewhat quirky podcast hosted by two theologian/pastors.  

January 19:  How Jews and Christians Read the Bible Differently with Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Brettler.  This is an interview with Jewish scholars Amy-Jill Leving and Marc Brettler on how and why Jews read the Bible differently than Christians.  The Hebrew Bible is the Christian Old Testament and, not surprisingly, Jews have a different perspective on that text than do Christians, in particular with regards to how biblical prophecies around the Messiah may, or may not, refer to Jesus (spoiler alert, for Jews the answer is not….).  Amy-Jill Levine has also done quite a bit of research on Jesus from a Jewish perspective which is interesting to consider.  Like the January 12 listening, this interview was recorded on The Bible for Normal People.

January 26:  The Bible’s Most Misunderstood Verse with N.T. Wright.  This is a fascinating interview (I think) between Russell Moore and N.T. Wright on a variety of topics including:  the meaning of covenant faithfulness, covenant justice, and the groaning of creation. They discuss the ecological impact of eschatology, how Romans can be a comfort to the hurting, and the meaning of the term “predestination.”   Rusell Moore was a member of the Southern Baptist Convention until he was essentially black-listed for calling out the SBC for its treatment of women and its drift towards white nationalism.  He’s now the Editor in Chief at Christianity Today and hosts the Russell Moore Podcast which has some really great guests. N.T. Wright is an Anglican Bishop, Pauline theologian, and as Marcus Borg said, “one of the greatest New Testament scholars alive today” in spite of the fact that they often disagreed and debated Christian dogma.  N.T. Wright has authored over 70 books and has a podcast called “Ask N.T. Wright Anything” This interview comes from an evangelical context and is a great bookend and compliment to the other listenings this month.  Fun stuff!